Unattended installations for applications

Hi All,

I have a third party software package that has a msi installer extension. I
can get the program to install from group policy, but my problem is: How can
I create an answer file, and use it that I would not require user input at
all? All the information on the Internet seems to pertain to installing
operating systems, but not unattended installations for third party programs.
Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Markus

An "answer file" .iss for Installshield is replaced by a "transform" .mst
for Windows Installer msi's. You generate a transform with Orca or a third
party tool, or sometimes the vendor provides a way to do this (like Adobe
with Installshield Tuner for Acrobat).
Anthony
www.airdesk.co.uk



"Markus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:BC7A066A-60FC-4E6F-A47A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi All,
>
> I have a third party software package that has a msi installer extension.
> I
> can get the program to install from group policy, but my problem is: How
> can
> I create an answer file, and use it that I would not require user input at
> all? All the information on the Internet seems to pertain to installing
> operating systems, but not unattended installations for third party
> programs.
> Your help is greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Markus
>

Hi Anthony,

Thank you for your reply. I am not sure I am understanding you correctly.
Is this what you are saying? When using Installshield to install programs
the answer file is located on the computer with a *.mst extention? And if
not I need to purchase a third party installer program like Orca to create an
msi extension from the *.exe and it will also create the *.mst file?

Thanks,
Markus

"Anthony" wrote:

> An "answer file" .iss for Installshield is replaced by a "transform" .mst
> for Windows Installer msi's. You generate a transform with Orca or a third
> party tool, or sometimes the vendor provides a way to do this (like Adobe
> with Installshield Tuner for Acrobat).
> Anthony
> www.airdesk.co.uk
>
>
>
> "Markus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:BC7A066A-60FC-4E6F-A47A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I have a third party software package that has a msi installer extension.
> > I
> > can get the program to install from group policy, but my problem is: How
> > can
> > I create an answer file, and use it that I would not require user input at
> > all? All the information on the Internet seems to pertain to installing
> > operating systems, but not unattended installations for third party
> > programs.
> > Your help is greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Markus
> >
>
>
>

No.
With Windows Installer, the equivalent of an answer file is a "transform" or
..mst file. To perform an unattended installation you run "msiexec /i [path
to msi] transforms=[path to mst] /qn".
You can create a transform with Orca, which is the free MS tool, part of the
platform SDK. Or you can buy a third party tool that you may find easier to
use. You need to create a transform of the third party software package that
you have.
Anthony
www.airdesk.co.uk


"Markus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:97528273-5974-47A8-AF7B-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Anthony,
>
> Thank you for your reply. I am not sure I am understanding you
> correctly.
> Is this what you are saying? When using Installshield to install programs
> the answer file is located on the computer with a *.mst extention? And if
> not I need to purchase a third party installer program like Orca to create
> an
> msi extension from the *.exe and it will also create the *.mst file?
>
> Thanks,
> Markus
>
> "Anthony" wrote:
>
>> An "answer file" .iss for Installshield is replaced by a "transform" .mst
>> for Windows Installer msi's. You generate a transform with Orca or a
>> third
>> party tool, or sometimes the vendor provides a way to do this (like Adobe
>> with Installshield Tuner for Acrobat).
>> Anthony
>> www.airdesk.co.uk
>>
>>
>>
>> "Markus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:BC7A066A-60FC-4E6F-A47A-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > Hi All,
>> >
>> > I have a third party software package that has a msi installer
>> > extension.
>> > I
>> > can get the program to install from group policy, but my problem is:
>> > How
>> > can
>> > I create an answer file, and use it that I would not require user input
>> > at
>> > all? All the information on the Internet seems to pertain to
>> > installing
>> > operating systems, but not unattended installations for third party
>> > programs.
>> > Your help is greatly appreciated.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Markus
>> >
>>
>>
>>